Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.
Dorothy Thompson

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Progress

Recently someone asked if I had spoken with Bennett's speech therapist about her thoughts on how he is progressing with speech. The answer is no. I haven't asked and I have no intention of ever asking that question. It's not that I'm not interested. We work hard on his speech and all of his goals and we have made progress. However, I don't care to know the therapist's opinion on the subject. I want her help, her guidance, her support. But I'm not interested in knowing her predictions about where it will all lead.

I already know where we are -Bennett has a severe speech delay. I know we have years of speech therapy ahead of us. Will Bennett ever have truly functional speech - I don't know and frankly I don't want to know and I don't think I need to know right now. So, you see, I don't have my head completely buried in the sand. To be honest, I don't want to know what she thinks about his progress because I don't know how I would cope if she said something bad. I don't know how I wouldn't let that consume me and strip away any of the hope that I am currently clinging to. And I really believe that she would just be making a guess - an educated guess of course - but ultimately still a guess.

I would rather just keep moving along like we are now, celebrating his progress and each new word we hear (and we are now well over 100!). What will happen, will happen anyway - I don't need to know now. I'm quite content to leave my heart open and my head where it is - firmly stuck in the sand with one eye peeking out.

Edited: I had to come back and add a picture of Bennett and I making pizzas last night. He did at least 50% of the work with his right hand! And they were great pizzas...I''m going to get him to cook more often :D

6 comments:

WOW 100 words! That is amazing. I don't know why anyone would be anything other then optimistic. I think everything Bennett is doing is awesome. I loved his little people he drew, I think right there you can tell how smart and happy he is. GO BENNETT!!!

I find your outlook refreshing! As a speech-language pathologist, I've had a lot of parents ask me to predict the future, and the fact is I can't. No one can.

I often tell parents something I first heard from a special education teacher I once worked with: "I'm not going to fix your child, because s/he's not broken. S/he just needs an individualized program to experience as much success as possible, and I'm here to provide that."

Suzanne - We've been pretty excited about Bennett's progress. He tries to say everything - some words are closer than others but it's just so great to hear him try.

Robert - Thank you very much for your comment! It's nice to hear from a professional that my outlook can be a good thing for Bennett. I couldn't agree more with you and your former teacher - our kids aren't "broken" - they just need some extra help to reach their potential.

Mummu - Thanks for the love and support and cheerleading. We are so lucky to have you on Bennett's team!